3 business use cases for observability

Since 1955, 88 percent of Fortune 500 companies have fallen off the list or gone bankrupt, including major brands like American Motors and Detroit Steel, while others like Boeing and Campbell Soup have withstood the test of time. More telling, the average "lifespan" of a company on the list has dropped from 75 to 15 years, indicating that today, a business’ longevity is less to do with industrial decline and leadership, and more influenced by technology and trends. Digital transformation has occurred in waves, and those who have adapted and survived are often those who embraced innovation and implemented new technology to enable success. As we continue riding the current wave of digital change, next-generation platforms for observability and AIOps can help businesses keep pace.

Although many industry leaders see observability with AIOps through a technical lens, every feature and function solves a real-world problem for companies. Here are the top business use cases for observability with AIOps:

#1: Enhance the customer experience

Our software-dependent world needs to be available when we need it. Think about all digital experiences. We expect to make a purchase, have that purchase transact and be able to interact and access materials immediately. Digital services are in a state of continuous change to deliver customers the latest and greatest technology, and constant observation of systems used by customers is critical in ensuring a seamless experience. This is where observability with AIOps comes in.

Observability with AIOps helps brands:

• Improve performance
• Increase availability
• Mitigate the impacts of outages and downtime
• Speed up resolution times
• Meet customer SLAs
• Reduce repeat incidents

Legacy monitoring tools force teams to manually visualize and ingest data, while simultaneously spotting any deviation or incident with the naked eye. These slow, manual processes can result in significant system downtime when issues occur, and quickly become costly for customers. Observability with AIOps automates the process and identifies incidents for SRE teams right away so they can take action and avoid customer-impacting downtime.

#2: Increase productivity

Not only does leveraging observability with AIOps improve the customer experience, but it also significantly increases overall productivity.

Let’s come back to our SREs. SREs often waste valuable time combing through heaps of data and identifying what actually matters and requires action. Rather than slowing down all operations with tedious, manual processes, observability with AIOps uses automation to identify which data is critical so SREs can quickly take action, in turn dramatically improving productivity and efficiency.

Businesses will also reap the productivity benefits through:

• Improved collaboration
• Increased system visibility
• Quicker decision making
• Reduced system alerts/noise
• Reduced escalations
• Improved resolution times

#3: Enhance innovation

Increased productivity and an improved customer experience go hand in hand with one key area: innovation. Observability with AIOps is in and of itself an innovation that helps businesses keep up with digital transformation. Still, it also enables SREs and DevOps practitioners to take that innovation even further.

A phrase commonly used by companies that have mastered innovation is "fail fast", meaning the goal is to get features, services and concepts in front of the customer fast, so if they miss the mark, it can be fixed equally rapidly, with less risk to the business.

SREs and DevOps practitioners are also forced to move fast, but when  things break for them, it’s less desirable. However  when leveraging observability with AIOps, DevOps practitioners and SRE teams can move at a record pace, with much less concern about ramifications. Observability calculates meaning and context from data at lightning speeds, freeing up time for them to focus on innovation.

One example is when you consider SREs operating in a hybrid environment. SREs need to monitor the health of delivered services across multiple cloud providers and continuously monitor applications as they migrate from on-premise to cloud infrastructures or from cloud to cloud. Usually, organizations use multiple cloud providers, each with its own monitoring tool. But observability with AIOps provides users with continuous monitoring of data for troubleshooting and remediation and a unified approach to monitoring multiple cloud providers in one comprehensive dashboard. This allows teams to identify issues at machine speed so they can find a quick fix -- in turn, freeing up time to work on other projects that don't just keep the lights on, but drive the business forward like new product features and effectively implement new solutions that help with long-term goals.

Implementing innovative technologies doesn’t just impact internal teams but instead has a real-world impact on various business areas. Everything from improved productivity to enhanced innovation and providing a superior customer experience are key advantages of leveraging observability with AIOps in today’s digital world.

Photo Credit: VLADGRIN/Shutterstock

As Moogsoft's chief evangelist, Richard Whitehead brings a keen sense of what is required to build transformational solutions. A former CTO and technology VP, Richard brought new technologies to market and was responsible for strategy, partnerships and product research. Richard served on Splunk’s Technology Advisory Board through their Series A, providing product and market guidance. He served on the advisory boards of RedSeal and Meriton Networks, was a charter member of the TMF NGOSS architecture committee, chaired a DMTF Working Group, and recently co-chaired the ONUG Monitoring & Observability Working Group. Richard holds three patents and is considered dangerous with JavaScript.